One of the trends you won’t want to miss this season is shoe boots. You’ll find everything from utilitarian lace up styles to sexy embellished cowboy boot styles lining store shelves. This is a great alternative to the riding boot of last season while still providing warmth and practicality on those icy winter streets. The key shape is a lightly rounded toe which offers a slimmer silhouette without squeezing your toe or looking too boxy. Thus, even if you choose a lace up style, your foot will still look feminine. You can choose classic colors like black and chocolate brown or branch out into saddle brown, grey and tan. There is no wrong choice, so just pick what you love and will work best with your wardrobe. Wear your boots monotone by matching your pant color to to your boot or choose a contrast for a little edgier feel. Black looks great paired with grey jeggings and grey boots work to set off a black jean. Chocolate brown looks great against dark denim.

Any shoe trend only works well when you wear it correctly. As with any outfit, you need to consider the overall style. What are you going for? Is this a casual weekend style or something you want to wear to work? Casual looks, like those worn with jeans, pair fabulously with lace up boots.

Three ways to wear shoe boots this season

Consider these three pictures. The woman on the left looks sharp in her brown wedge shoe boot with a cream sock cuff. The heel gives the boot a feminine edge but the cuff keeps it casual, giving the impression of a cotton sock peeking out and the “I just threw this on and look how great I look” vibe. Her jeans are clean (no beat up spots) keeping the overall style a little dressier. The woman in the middle has a black fringe midi boot paired with dark denim jeans. Again the jeans are clean. Notice too the fringe is relegated to one accessory keeping her look trendy and classy. Going for full utilitarian, the gal on the right pairs beat up jeans with brown lace up boots and a military style bag. The scarf keeps the look feminine, saying, “I’m tough, practical and stylish all at the same time.” These three styles work well, showing different ways you can wear shoe boots. What I like best about this style is it can work for any age from 20 to 60.

For work, you can pair a full short skirt with bare legs or tights and a dressier shoe boot like the black style with silver

How to wear a skirt and boot together.

rhinestones from Yellowbox pictured at the top of the page. Pencil skirts can also be worn with boots, but that look is edgier and harder to pull off. These three pictures show fashionable pairings of boots and shorter hems, including short shorts. Any of these styles could be paired with tights for a more practical style in the winter. My only caution here is this style is a little younger, so be careful how you put this together if you are over fifty.

Lastly, this season you will be seeing more boot cuffs and leg

warmers. Similar to the fun boot socks of last season, the look you are trying to achieve is a sock/boot combo. Where a boot cuff differs from a sock, however, is that you wear it over the boot. It’s a great way to help your boot look wintery and keep your ankles warm! This boot cuff is stylish with its silver embellishment which compliments the chain detail on the boot perfectly. Fashion Crossroads has already received some great shoe boot styles and will be getting a fabulous selection of boot socks and boot cuffs in October – just in time for the snow.

Get inspired about these new ways to wear boots this season and give one of these trends a try!